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Basement floor drain and utility sink will bubble then back up when kitchen sink is drained or washing machine empties. We have a small single story ranch built in 1952 (lived in since ’93) with original cast iron sewer plumbing. The kitchen is directly above the laundry room and drains into a 2-1/2” OD heading down to the laundry room and vents to the roof. The utility sink drains into this line (1 ft. above floor) as well as a 36” stand pipe for the washer tapped into the cleanout just above the concrete. The floor drain (with trap and cleanout) in the laundry room also Ys into this line then heads to the center of the house and Ys to the 3-1/2” OD main line about 1 ft. from the cleanout.I ran a 1/2"x 50 ft power snake with 1-1/4” dia. twin blade cutter from the utility sink Y, the floor drain cleanout and the main line cleanout. I also ran hot water down the sewer vent above the kitchen to verify it was not plugged. All this helped but still getting bubbles then backs up slightly, it does go back down quickly after the sink or washer empties. In years past, this method used to solve the problem but has become less effective in recent years. When draining and looking into the main line with a mirror I can see the drainage flowing freely into the empty main, thus do not think there is any problem with the main.Thank you in advance for any input or advice.

Sounds like you just punched a hole in the build up and didn't fully clean the
pipe. The hardened scale on old cast iron can be difficult to remove. You
have to work your cutter heads up to a size sufficient to scour the inside
walls of the pipe.

Have a similar deal at my house. 2" stack that catches the kitchen up stairs and the laundry below. Every now and then the floor drain backs up . I just snake down the floor drain (3" trap ) .And I'm usually good for a year or so..The problem is the 3" branch serving all that stuff was run with very little grade till it hits the 4" and has a lot of build up as well. The best solution for me is to jackhammer the 3" branch up and rerun extending 3" up throught floor with a 3" cleanout so I can get a real cutter through there..To lazy though ..I just wait till the ol' lady says the floor drains backing up again.! But now that I have the 60 I am going to get a little creative with this line and then

''Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" Benjamin Franklin

Thanks to all for the replies. I too believe the problem is mostly due to hard scale buildup. Independently, I've been researching the sectional machines and considering a K-60, gave me a smile when I checked the posts to my thread. Reading forums there is talk of using “Chain Knockers” to remove hard scale with sectional machines, wondering if this is the right tool (I see Ridgid offers one. right type?). A second issue, I've had trouble in the past passing the 90 deg elbow with larger tools on 5/8 -7/8 cables.

1.) Would a "trap leader" (offered by Ridgid) help a larger tool make the 90 deg. corner?
2.) What would be the best K-60 Tool for hard scale removal?

For what they’re worth, I’ve included a few pictures of the project access areas.

Well if that is a 2" line the biggest cable you are going to get through is 5/8" ..After I posted I had my floor drain back up again as well. So out came the new k-60 . I have a 2" test tee similar to your set up. I didn't waste my time / energy on the floor drain. My situation is that the crap accumilates downstream of the trap .Then since the trap is the low point that is where the back up starts. So as long as you get that branch snaked out / opened up to where it hits the main line .You should be good . I ran lots of water while I was snakingLike I mentioned earlier . I would love to get my 7/8" or 1 1/4 " cables down that branch but it just isn't gonna happen till I jack hammer..If that happens the whole branch will get changed to PVC anyhow. I should be good for another year or so. As long as someone quits putting s*&^ down the kitchen drain and keeps the lint catchers on the washing machine drain hose..What would be nice is if instead of a 2" sweep where it turned up through the floor it might be a 3x2 sweep In that case the jackhammer thing would not be that awful.Just break up around the 2" cut off/tie in and bring up 3" and retie everything in with a 3" cleanout..Then I would def. be able to get the 7/8" cables down there Well keep us posted on how it goes

''Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" Benjamin Franklin